“VOTE for what you believe in” – that was the message from the Green Party trying to muscle in on the marginal seat of Oxford East.

Speaking to a packed hustings debate, Green Party candidate Sushila Dhall appealed to voters to shun tactical voting and ignore the results of the past.

She added: “One thing about our voting system is you can change an area overnight without bloodshed.

“Don’t be persuaded that because it’s a marginal seat you should vote negatively to keep someone out. Vote for what you believe in.”

Labour MP Andrew Smith and Liberal Democrat challenger Steve Goddard were separated by just 963 votes in Oxford East at the 2005 election.

In 2010, both parties have identified the seat as key target on the national stage – and have been keen to paint the constituency as a two-horse race.

Asked if he was feeling the pressure of defending a seat that could play a defining role in Labour’s future, Mr Smith said: “Election campaigns are always frenetic.”

The candidates in the battle for the swing seat locked horns at East Oxford Community Centre on Wednesday – minus Conservative candidate Ed Argar who was unable to attend.

And in a key marginal constituency in one of the closest General Elections for decades, questions turned to the possibility of a hung parliament.

Dr Goddard was asked by one resident why people should vote Liberal Democrat if the party was going to help the Conservatives into power.

Dr Goddard replied: “Don’t go assuming we are the allies of the Conservatives.

“A hung Parliament may happen. That’s not in my hands, that’s in the hands of the electorate.”

Mr Smith was forced to defend his voting record on the Iraq war and told residents: “I voted on the best information I had available and in good faith.

“I regret that information turned out to be incorrect. If we knew then what we know now the course of history would be very different.”

UK Independence Party candidate Julia Gasper said her’s was the only party that would remove a Prime Minister’s power to go to war without a Parliamentary vote.

David O’Sullivan, of the Socialist Equality Party, told residents a new system of government was needed and that present Government policy was dictated by big business.

Roger Crawford, representing the Equal Parenting Alliance, is campaigning for fathers’ rights. He said he wanted to raise awareness of that issue and was not a politician.

The event, attended by more than 100 residents, was organised by electoral reform campaign group Power2010.